Characteristics and causes of costume culture in Tang Dynasty

The rich and gorgeous costumes of the Han nationality in the Tang Dynasty, especially the extensive absorption of foreign costumes, made the costumes of the Han nationality in the Tang Dynasty show the multi-ethnic characteristics of communication and integration. The economic development in the Tang Dynasty inspired various social thoughts. In addition, the people of the Tang Dynasty actively communicated with foreign countries, and the rulers learned from the past and present, which shaped their multi-ethnic costume culture characteristics. The multi-nationality of Han costumes in Tang Dynasty, with local culture as the core, still has important enlightenment. The combination of tradition and folk is worth learning from modern fashion designers in China.

As we all know, among the feudal dynasties in China, the Tang Dynasty was the most prosperous. The Tang Dynasty ended the chaotic state of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties and Sui Dynasty, and established a unified and powerful country. The prosperity of economy, the richness of culture and the brilliance of art in the Tang Dynasty wrote the most brilliant chapter of ancient feudal culture in China. The Tang Dynasty was an unprecedented period of great exchanges and integration between ancient and modern China and foreign countries in China's history, and the prosperous Tang Dynasty became the center of economic and cultural exchanges among Asian nations.

In the history of ancient Chinese costumes, the costumes of the Han nationality in the Tang Dynasty also showed the multi-nationality of communication and integration. This multi-ethnic group is the result of mutual communication, mutual influence and mutual reference between the Han nationality, the northwest minorities and other ethnic groups, and it also shows many reasons and characteristics of its development and evolution.

First, the background of economic prosperity and strong national strength.

The Tang Dynasty was the heyday of China's feudal society. From the economic strength of the whole country, it was quite rich and powerful, and it was one of the few great empires with civilization and prosperity in the world at that time. Backed by the prosperity and commerce of the Silk Road, the feudal economy of the Tang Dynasty reached a level of development that the previous dynasty could not achieve. On the one hand, the Tang Dynasty made great progress in the development of domestic traditional economy. On the other hand, the Tang Dynasty showed considerable acceptance and recognition of the emerging urban economy, from royalty to common people. Business services have mushroomed rapidly, foreign trade has developed, and productivity has developed greatly, showing the prosperity of the country and the safety of the people.

The development of social economy and commerce in Tang Dynasty, especially the highly developed silk, cotton textile industry and printing and dyeing technology in handicraft industry, objectively provided a solid material foundation for the prosperity of costume culture in Tang Dynasty, and brought luxury, openness and multi-nationality of costumes, which was the peak in the history of ancient Chinese costumes. No wonder modern economists like to associate the length and openness of women's clothing with the prosperity or downturn of the economy. From the rich historical materials unearthed in the Tang Dynasty, we can see that women in the Tang Dynasty have gorgeous costumes, rich manners, exotic makeup, open modeling and foreign national characteristics. Among the three typical dresses of women in the Tang Dynasty, the skirt is full, as evidenced by poems such as "The skirt drags six pieces of Xiangjiang River water" and "The skirt is wide and leaves several gold threads in the east".

The colors of women's clothes are also colorful. Poems such as "Golden-streaked Yuanyang is full of crimson skirt", "Mei Dai wins the color of day lily, red skirt envies pomegranate flowers", "Lotus root silk skirt with willow flowers" and "Bend over to dance gold" show the competition of purple, red, green and yellow women's clothing.

Not only that, the openness of its clothing has also attracted people's attention, and there has been an unprecedented topless image in the history of ancient Chinese clothing. For example, in the paintings on the east wall of Princess Yongtai's tomb, the image of women in the Tang Dynasty with a high bun and half-exposed breasts, red silks on her shoulders, yellow short-sleeved shirts, long green skirts and red ribbons hanging from her waist is an open social aesthetic trend of "taking dew as beauty" and "wearing fine grass when sitting and sweeping plums when walking". In addition, the style of bamboo slips popular in the Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Central Plains in the Tang Dynasty was influenced by the nomadic culture in the north. This short woman with narrow sleeves and tight body is not only conducive to doing things, but also shows the graceful figure of women, so she is loved by young women. The power pang worn by women when they go out with their husbands' clothes was originally a practical costume of the nation. Because there are many sandstorms in the northwest, it is used to cover up the sandstorms, but it has spread to the mainland, similar to the Confucian classic "Li? The feudal consciousness of "women must cover their faces when they go out" in Inside has been combined to prevent passers-by from peeping at women's faces. Obviously, this luxurious, open and multi-ethnic clothing style is directly related to the strength of national strength and economic development. If people have no time to take care of the changes of clothing styles in the war-torn times, then people have more leisure and energy to pay attention to the exquisiteness and changes of clothing under the background of rich material, rich life and strong national strength in the Tang Dynasty, and the foreign exchange of China's clothing has entered a new world. Confucianism has been diluted by foreign culture, and the development of clothing, regardless of material or style, has spread and developed in the cultural background of different nationalities, showing an unprecedented brilliant scene.

Second, the result of social atmosphere and ideological foundation

The social foundation of fashion depends not only on the height of social civilization, but also on the direct influence of social ideological trend. Because clothing is a barometer of social atmosphere, "it is a mirror of the times, and the change of clothing directly reflects the popular literary trend of thought and people's philosophy of life at that time."

Since the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Gaozu and Emperor Taizong have given priority to Confucianism, while Emperor Gaozong was weaker than Confucianism and turned to Buddhism. Huang Wu ruled the country with Buddhism, and Taoism flourished in Xuanzong period, forming a new cultural pattern in which Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism coexisted. People's value orientation further broke through the shackles of traditional Confucianism and showed a trend of diversified development. The diversity of cultural thoughts brings freedom of thought and belief. The civilization of the Tang Dynasty contains many positive thoughts and social ethos that the former dynasty dared not think and the later generations dared not do. As Mr. Li Zehou, an aesthete, said, the Tang people "introduced and absorbed fearlessly, created and innovated without restraint and nostalgia, and broke through the convention and tradition at that time", immersed in "the rising stage and social atmosphere of the prosperity of individuals, nationalities, classes and countries".

Lu Xun thought that the innovation of the Tang people was "unprecedented". British scholar Wells, when comparing the differences between medieval Europe and the prosperous Tang Dynasty in China, said, "When westerners' minds are fascinated by theology and are in ignorance and darkness, China people's thoughts are open and eclectic." Tang Wenhua's unique eclectic spirit contributed to the richness and brilliance of Tang culture. In the records of feudal society in China, the Tang Dynasty became one of the most liberated periods of human nature in China, and the atmosphere and ideological trend of the whole society were also relaxed, which created extremely favorable conditions for the multi-nationality of Han costume art in the Tang Dynasty. Social ideology formed on a certain economic basis is an important factor affecting social fashion and clothing. This relaxed ideological environment in the Tang Dynasty enabled people to have no restricted areas in their thoughts, no constraints in their creation, broad horizons and free galloping, thus promoting the blooming of costume art, prompting the Han people to widely learn from the schools and styles of foreign national costumes, and creating a magnificent costume culture atmosphere in the Tang Dynasty. "The big cultural background determines the direction and level of the social effect of clothing, and then naturally runs through people's dress consciousness and dress behavior, thus becoming the social internal cause of clothing as a social phenomenon". It is with such an active, traditional and open social atmosphere and ideological foundation in the Tang Dynasty that bold costumes such as "a slow skirt with half breasts exposed" and "Slim skin" came into being, women's wear and men's wear that were not bound by the secular world and embodied women's rights, and the national wind craze of breaking through the tradition and letting a hundred flowers blossom-the prevalence of Hu Fu, and the "contemporary makeup" written by Bai Juyi. These unique costumes not only originated from the psychology of "fearless introduction and absorption, unrestrained creation and innovation, breaking the routine and breaking through the tradition", but also reflected the openness of society at that time.

Third, the influence of ethnic integration and cultural exchange.

The Tang Dynasty was strong in national strength, active and open, and paid more attention to foreign exchanges. Chang 'an was the capital of the Tang Dynasty, the political, economic and cultural center at that time, the center of cultural exchanges between the East and the West, and a world-famous metropolis, which brought together people from different countries and regions. More than 300 countries had friendly exchanges with the Tang government. Cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries in the Tang Dynasty included material exchanges and spiritual exchanges. In terms of materials, for example, China exports silk, lacquerware, iron ware and porcelain, while the West introduces iron smelting and silk weaving technology, while the West introduces fine varieties of fur, fruits, incense and glass. Spiritual and cultural exchanges were also very active in the Tang Dynasty, especially the introduction of foreign religions and arts, which were fully reflected in murals, stone carvings, sculptures, calligraphy and painting, silk embroidery, pottery figurines and costumes. Archaeological data prove that there are traces of Roman and Persian art spreading eastward in Xinjiang, such as the Tang Dynasty tapestry unearthed from Astana tomb in Turpan. They are not only influenced by Persian weaving, but also similar to Persian Sassanian dynasty in pattern style, showing traces of cultural exchanges between the East and the West, which also promoted the development of Han costumes in the Tang Dynasty to multi-ethnic.

Extensive foreign exchanges have promoted national integration. The process of ethnic integration in history is also the process of multi-ethnic development of clothing culture. "The intimate communication between foreign compatriots undoubtedly promoted the renewal and development of costumes." Exotic costumes influenced the image of Han costumes in the Tang Dynasty. The multi-ethnic characteristics of the costume culture of the Han nationality in the Tang Dynasty show that the extensive exchange of costume culture among ethnic groups in peacetime and the eclectic and extensive absorption of foreign costumes make the costume of the Han nationality in the Tang Dynasty more characteristic of the times.

Without internal and external communication, it is difficult to develop and innovate clothing art, and its artistic and aesthetic progress cannot be realized. Generally speaking, the communication of costume art is mostly carried out between people of different nationalities and regions. From the early Tang Dynasty to the prosperous Tang Dynasty, there were endless camel caravans on the Silk Road, and the frequent exchanges between the northern nomadic peoples such as Xiongnu, Khitan and Uighur and the Central Plains made the Silk Road not only bring together Hu merchants, but also bring exotic customs, costumes, music, art and even religion. Hu Jiu,,, and Hu Dance? It is a very popular Chang 'an fashion. Hu Feng's prosperity at that time can be seen from the description in the poem.

Yuan Zhen described in "Fa Qu": "Since Hu rode up, the smoke was full of salt. Women learn Hu makeup, geisha learn Hu yin? Hu Yin, Hu Qi and huzhuang argued for fifty years. " While learning the dress of Khufu, which contains many elements such as Indian and Persian, the Tang people also reached the most liberated level in ancient China, which made the Han women in the Tang Dynasty feel refreshed.

A gust of wind-like khufu fever swept across the Central Plains, and the ornaments were quite exotic, and its influence has penetrated into Han costumes. The status of clothing in national communication is significant and profound. The communication function and the resulting stereoscopic effect and materialized results can all illustrate this point. The internal and external communication of clothing art can be said to be a driving force to promote its development. For this reason, on the basis of the original style, the costumes of the Han nationality in the Tang Dynasty merged with the costume cultures of the northwest minorities, Tianzhu, Persia and other foreign nationalities, boldly innovating and colorful. After the great ethnic integration and cultural exchanges in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the costumes of the Han nationality have been influenced and changed to some extent, and some new costumes and ways of wearing have emerged. For example, T-shirts were commonly worn by ordinary and bureaucratic men in Sui and Tang Dynasties. Judging from the large number of paintings left in the Tang Dynasty, T-shirts were obviously influenced by the northern nationalities. The belt matching with Khufu is also one of the characteristics of Xianbei clothing. For another example, in the early Tang Dynasty, influenced by Gaochang and Uighur culture, women often took off their pointed cone hats, wore lapel small sleeve robes, embroidered lace collars, carved ribbons, small-mouth striped wool and soft brocade with empty boots. This can be seen from the dress of the ladies in Yan's "Walking Map". Xi. The female figurines of the Tang Dynasty unearthed in Turpan are generally decorated with faces, usually with rouge and gold foil like flower buds. After the middle Tang Dynasty, this "Khufu" style cooled down, and women's clothing was greatly influenced by Tubo. Emphasis is placed on the hairstyle of the head and facial makeup, such as stiff spine bun, low figure of eight, ochre painted face, and "prison clothes", "crying clothes" and "tears clothes" with black ointment on the lips.

Fourthly, it embodies the tolerant attitude of the ruling class towards foreign clothing culture.

In the fashion of ancient and modern clothing, the most common and universal trend is that royalty and nobility are the source of fashion and escape downward. Because, "clothing always spreads from high cultural groups to low cultural groups, and the strength of the group is often more influential than the level of culture", which is the leading rule in the dissemination of clothing culture. Royal aristocrats have supreme power and rich material and human resources, and they have the ability to rack their brains for the novelty of clothing. The strength advantage of costume culture group also had a great influence on the multi-ethnic development of Han costume culture in Tang Dynasty. As the leader of the trend of the times, the women in the court and the upper class, that is, aristocratic women, set off an inclusive fashion aesthetic revolution, thus reaching an unprecedented peak of fashion culture. Because of the rich economy, people in the Tang Dynasty were able to consume extravagant exotic clothes, and the foreign clothing consumer goods brought by the commercial activities of the Silk Road were always the first thing that Plutocratic family pursued in the Tang Dynasty. When the emperor and the royal family take the lead and the rich gentry follow suit, the people will regard it as the ideal of clothing and strive for it. Yuan Zhen described the situation that the Tang people tried their best to collect many exotic goods, including clothes: "Looking for pearls to drive the sea, gathering jade to go to Jingheng. Buy Xixia horses in the north and capture Tubo eagles in the west. The fire alkane in Yanzhou is woven from Sichuan brocade. The fatter and smoother the maid, the brighter the child's eyebrows. " The enlightenment of the ruling class in the Tang Dynasty brought by the mixed residence of Hu and Han made the vision of the Chinese nation extraordinarily broad and magnanimous. Tang Taizong's China has been expensive since ancient times, and I love it as one. This kind of boldness of vision and mind is undoubtedly conducive to opening the door to absorb foreign clothing culture. The multi-nationality of Han costumes in Tang Dynasty in China was more spread from ethnic minorities to Han people. The enterprising spirit of nomadic people, combined with the highly developed economy and culture of the Han nationality in the Central Plains, gave them a strong vitality, which made the costumes of the Han nationality in the Tang Dynasty have a clear, high-pitched, warm and unrestrained temperament of the times as a whole.

It is precisely because of the powerful national power of the Tang Dynasty that the operating mechanism of the bureaucratic class system in China is becoming more and more complete. With an open mind, it fearlessly introduced and absorbed foreign cultures, showing the broad mind and self-confidence of the ruling class in the Tang Dynasty. It is the interaction and influence of Hu customs, foreign civilization, religious culture and local traditions in the Tang Dynasty that created the inclusive, equal and open social psychology of the rulers in the Tang Dynasty, strengthened people's self-identity, and showed unprecedented initiative and creativity in all aspects of social life. The positive attitude of the rulers of the Tang Dynasty, which embraces all rivers and opens to the outside world, has successfully promoted the close and harmonious cultural atmosphere among all ethnic groups, accepted all kinds of costumes from the western regions and Tubo, made the "mud hat" and "contemporary makeup" popular, embodied the costume art of the Han nationality in the Tang Dynasty, and triggered the third great change in the history of ancient Chinese costumes.

Verb (abbreviation of verb) conclusion

The multi-nationality of Han costumes in Tang Dynasty reflected the political, economic and cultural life of the society at that time, and also reflected people's aesthetic fashion and psychology at that time. Due to the developed economy, relaxed social environment, active foreign exchanges, and the broad mind of absorbing all ages and learning from others, the Tang Dynasty created a prosperous, rich and broad clothing culture. Its costume culture not only absorbed other national cultures for our use, but also had a far-reaching impact on foreign nations and became an important part of the world costume history. It is worth emphasizing that while absorbing foreign cultures, Han costumes in the Tang Dynasty never gave up, denied or doubted the inherent culture. On the contrary, local culture has always been the foundation and core of Tang Wenhua, actively selecting and transforming elites from foreign cultures, and creating an open clothing culture with multi-ethnic styles. This way of extending one hand to the tradition and the other hand to the people in the Tang Dynasty still has important enlightenment today, which is worth pondering by modern China fashion designers.